A Guide to Image Licenses (And How to Protect Yourself)

‎01-12-201803:18 PM - last edited on ‎09-04-201810:10 AM by michael_britt

Flickr, Vimeo and Wikimedia contain open resources that are searchable by media type and can be screened for Creative Commons licenses that ensure they are open to use. This post is also attached as a PDF: feel free to share it with your students!

The license information is at the bottom of each photo. It’s a link! Click it for more info on the Creative Commons website.

All Creative Commons licenses require that you attribute the images that you use. Your citation should include the title of the photo, name of the creator, a link to the website where the image is hosted and the type of Creative Commons license.

Here is how to attribute the above image: first, link to the URL of the photo. Next, link to the author’s webpage (found by clicking on their name below the photo). And finally, link to the Creative Commons site (found by clicking on the license type below the photo).

All photos are either released under Creative Commons licenses or in the public domain. Wikimedia Commons’ simple structure lets you easily find image license information. Here’s how to search for a licensed image in Wikimedia: